Mexico seeks arrest of three Banamex employees in Oceanografia case

MEXICO CITY, June 20 (Reuters) - Mexico's Attorney General
is seeking to arrest three Banamex employees, including at least
one senior employee, in connection with a fraud probe involving
the Citigroup Mexican unit and oil services company
Oceanografia, the attorney general said on Friday.

Citigroup has discovered some $565 million in loans
linked to fraud at Banamex. In May, it fired 11 employees amid
an internal review.

The investigation is focusing on how Oceanografia
, a top service provider to state-run oil giant Pemex
, was able to borrow hundreds of millions from Banamex
using as collateral its own estimates of payments it was owed by
Pemex.

"The bank employees who allowed this to happen broke the
law," Attorney General Jesus Murillo told a special commission
of Mexico's senators on Friday. "These are not second-class
employees. At least in one case, one is or was a high-ranking
employee."

There could also be more arrests to come from companies
involved, Murillo said, adding, "And that is all I'm going to
say, but there are more and there are more lines to the
investigation."
(Reporting by Elinor Comlay and Lizbeth Diaz; Editing by
Jonathan Oatis)